Monday, November 9, 2015

The Myanmar Mirror

"Millions vote in Myanmar’s first real test of democracy" by Thomas Fuller New York Times November 09, 2015

YANGON, Myanmar — Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is expected to secure an easy victory, but much remained uncertain about how the results will be received by the military establishment that has long held the reins of power.This is their “chance for freedom.”

After five decades of military rule and a series of rigged or canceled elections, Myanmar’s nationwide elections appeared to proceed smoothly and peacefully, raising hopes that the country’s five-year transition to democracy had reached another milestone.

Though the official tally may not be known for days, early results late Sunday night showed the party led by Suu Kyi, a 70-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, leading in Yangon, Mandalay, and the capital, Naypyidaw. But the country is overwhelmingly rural, and results from those areas may be slower in coming.

By some measures the election has already been less than free and fair. Hundreds of thousands of people from the country’s Muslim minority were disenfranchised by being taken off the voter rolls.Like the blacks in Florida in 2000.

Yet those who voted said they felt a thrill knowing that their country might be guided by the will of the people after so many years of military domination.

That wears off after a while if you are an American. The war machine rolls on no matter who is president.

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Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country’s independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated just as the country was emerging from British colonial rule.So what western intelligence agency offed him?

Suu Kyi has brought star power to the election that her rivals in the military establishment lack. She is seen as a semideity among many of her followers and is often called “Mother Suu.”Uh-oh! DANGER! DANGER! Blind nutballs alert! Btw, I'm also sick of political celebrity -- or is it celebrity politics?

“Her father’s work was unfinished, and she has always felt it was her duty to finish it,” said Bertil Lintner, one of her biographers. “This is her final chance to fulfill her destiny.”Sort of has a Star Wars and Hitlerian feel to it, doesn't it?

Suu Kyi is a member of Parliament, a post that she assumed after a by-election victory in 2012. She voted on Sunday at a school near her home in Yangon, surrounded by reporters and photographers.

Coming to power will mean hurdling many obstacles that the generals have put in her way. Under the constitution, the military retains control over three key ministries that oversee the police, army, border affairs, and a vast bureaucracy across the country.Look familiar, 'murkn?

Twenty-five percent of seats in the Parliament are reserved for the military, which effectively means that Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, must win two-thirds of the vote to secure a simple majority of the seats in Parliament.They will fall short there, and thus not have real power even with a majority. The West will complain, and Myanmar will link closer to China.

More than 90 parties were registered to participate in the election, including many from ethnic minority groups that may play an important role in postelection haggling to choose a president.

Suu Kyi must overcome the skepticism among the elites in Myanmar about what many describe as a domineering management style and a lack of experience in an executive role.Just like an AmeriKan election.

The generals wrote a clause in the constitution that bans anyone who is married to a foreign citizen or whose children are foreigners from becoming president. Suu Kyi was married to a British citizen, and her two children have foreign nationality. But she said last week that if her party won, she would run the government and be “above the president.”She is leaking dictatorial tendencies while spouting democracy!

That comment drew the ire of the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which serves as the political wing of the military. Although more than 90 parties are contesting the elections, the main fight is between the National League for Democracy and the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The president will be chosen by the upper and lower houses of Parliament early next year. The Myanmar news media have predicted a “roller coaster” of negotiations and back-room dealings. Many in Myanmar say they are not fully convinced that the military will hand over power if they lose — the generals canceled election results in 1990 after Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide.

Last week, President Thein Sein said the government and the military would “follow and respect the results of a free and fair election.” The president described the election as “the most meaningful and important in Myanmar history.”

On Sunday, voters said their main focus was more immediate: to make sure no one cheated.That is a given here in the U.S.

More than 10,000 election monitors registered with the country’s election commission, including members of delegations from the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Voters themselves were also vigilant, posting alleged irregularities to social media. No major irregularities had been reported as of 4 p.m., when polls closed, but the counting was only beginning.We shall see if the people of Myanmar voted the right way or not.

"Myanmar vote has opposition party confident of landslide" by Thomas Fuller New York Times November 10, 2015Sigh.

YANGON, Myanmar — After struggling against the heavy hand of the Burmese military for 2½ decades, the opposition party of the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday that it was confident of a sweeping victory in the country’s landmark nationwide elections.Double sigh. I'm looking at a completely rewritten piece of crap!!!

Although official results of Sunday’s election trickled in for only a handful of districts, the potential electoral success by Suu Kyi’s political movement underlined the undying appeal of a woman who sacrificed her family, her health, and 15 years of her life as a political prisoner to oppose dictatorship in Myanmar. I can't read this crap anymore.

But it also portends a troubled and uncertain path for the country, and a dilemma for the military-backed government that until now has tried to manage the transition away from isolation and dictatorship on its own terms.

On Tuesday, Suu Kyi’s party accused the government election panel of intentionally delaying results, saying it wants to ‘‘maybe play a trick.’’

The accusation by the National League for Democracy came after what had been an amicable election, where the ruling party appeared to be taking its expected loss gracefully.One might say she's a real (U.S.) bitch.

Even a torrential downpour on Monday afternoon could not bring down the spirits of a crowd of opposition supporters who cheered and sang as they watched the results on a giant TV screen outside the party’s headquarters here.

‘‘The Union Election Commission has been delaying intentionally because maybe they want to play a trick or something,’’ NLD spokesman Win Htien told reporters at Suu Kyi’s house after a party meeting. ‘‘It doesn’t make sense that they are releasing the result little piece by piece. It shouldn’t be like that,’’ he said.

A number of powerful members of the military establishment conceded defeat, including former senior military officers who were among the most prominent figures in the quasi-civilian government.

The election commission has released results for only about 50 seats in the 664-member Parliament while the NLD has claimed victory in 154 of the 164 seats in four states. There are 14 states in Myanmar.

“You should never underestimate the people’s desire,” said U Khin Maung Yi, the man who defeated U Htay Oo, the chairman of the governing party. “It is clear that people voted for us because they believe we can bring hope and change for them.”

Meaningless buzz words, and it might not be the change you want!!!

The accusation raises concern about the intentions of the ruling party, which is beholden to the military that had ruled the country with an iron-grip for about a half century until 2011.This really is a mirror.

Since then, the country has been governed by the Union Solidarity Development Party, made up former junta members.The NYT use of the word junta should tell you how AmeriKan war-planners view Myanmar's military and government.

Thura Shwe Mann, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament and a former general, lost his seat as did a host of high-profile ministers, almost all of them former generals.“Nationwide, we won in some parts, and we lost in some parts,” U Htay Oo, the chairman of the governing party, was quoted as saying in the Burmese news media on Monday. “But we had a greater share of losses.”

Cutting mine about as close as you get.

“Nationwide, we got over 70 percent,” said U Win Htein, a senior member of Suu Kyi’s party. “We can call this a landslide victory,” he added.That was my second print paragraph.

If the results of the election are respected by the current government and the military, it will be the first time in more than five decades that voters in Myanmar have been able to choose their leaders freely.That's about halfway through, so it's a cut, clip, and paste job.

Landslide was the term used to describe the outcome the last time Myanmar had a free election, a quarter of a century ago, when Suu Kyi led democratic forces to a victory over the military’s proxies, winning 80 percent of the seats in Parliament.

The military’s answer then wasto lock up its opponents, including Suu Kyi, who was put under house arrest even before the vote; nullify the results; and impose a sort of isolated dark age for the country just as its neighbors were riding the Asian economic boom to greater prosperity.

The US Embassy had teams of observers in every state and region of the country on Sunday. In a carefully worded congratulatory statement, Secretary of State John Kerry warned that “a peaceful post-election period is crucial for stability” and for the political transition.OMG, it was a fixed election, the military government isn't fighting it, and a-hole Kerry is out there issuing a warning.

The election was primarily a contest between the military elites and the democracy movement that the former generals persecuted for more than two decades.So sayeth the NYT, Amerika's lead war promoting mouthpiece.

Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest for 15 years while the military was in control, emerging as a national democracy hero. The election has unleashed a flurry of emotion among her supporters, many of whom were jailed during military rule. Voting was largely peaceful.

Although official results may not be complete for days, analysts said the election appeared so one-sided that it seemed that Aung San Suu Kyi’s party could win a majority in parliament, which would allow it to choose a president and pass laws without any need for support by the military or its political wing, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Under the current, military-drawn constitution, a quarter of the seats in parliament are appointed by the military, so her party would have to win two-thirds of the contested seats to have a majority.Where my Globe print ended.

Aung San Suu Kyi was cautious in her comments to reporters Monday, but she seemed to hint at big gains in the election, saying voters had “already understood” the result.“The loser must face the loss bravely and calmly, and the winner must be humble and very magnanimous,” she said.The picture was less clear in ethnic minority areas, which may be important in the selection of a new president early next year if Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, falls short of a parliamentary majority. The party said it had filed complaints about irregularities from those areas, where results are expected in the coming days.What did U.S. officials stationed throughout every state and region of the country have to sayParty officials said their preliminary results showed that they had swept most seats in the delta, which is heavily populated and politically important. And they are still complaining?Voters in the delta displayed a reflexive affection for Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the daughter of the country’s independence hero.“Of course we love Mother Suu,” said Daw Kyi Kyi Htay, a 39-year-old rice farmer who lives in an impoverished rice farming village. “I can’t give you a reason. I just love her.”There were signs that Aung San Suu Kyi’s popularity had also carried over into ethnic areas, such as the upland states of Kachin and Chin, where local loyalties have often trumped national ones.Cherry Zahau, a candidate from the Chin Progressive Party, an ethnic-based opposition party in Chin State, along the border with India, conceded defeat on Monday to a candidate from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.“It is unbelievable,” she said. “Chin voters don’t even know who they voted for. They only know the Lady.”The Queen of Myanmar!One of the victors in the election, U Than Nyunt, said Aung San Suu Kyi’s star power was a major factor in his win over Shwe Mann. Aung San Suu Kyi was treasured as a symbol of defiance against the generals and the poverty that has plagued Myanmar even as its neighbors have become more wealthy.Wow, that is a mirror -- reflective yet totally opposite of what happens over here. Those types of candidates are savaged by my pre$$.“The people’s message to us is that they want change and they don’t want to live in these circumstances anymore,” Than Nyunt said.In a country fractured by ethnic divisions and riddled with corruption, drug trafficking and destitution, expectations for the next government are perhaps implausibly high. But this has not stopped outpourings of joy.“I haven’t been able to eat anything since yesterday because I’m so happy,” said Daw Than Than Htay, a supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. “This is going to change everything in our country.”You know, if the NYT and it's cited characters are happy, then I'm happy. Enjoy your new NWO-CIA regime. Now help the U.S. contain China, will ya'?You remember the last World War in that area?Enjoy!Although jubilation was widespread, it was not ubiquitous. WHAAAAAAAAAAT?Hundreds of thousands of voters from the Rohingya Muslim minority were struck from voter rolls and not allowed to vote on Sunday. The plight of the Rohingya, who are not recognized as citizens, is one of the many thorny issues awaiting the next government. Oh, them, yeah, afterthought paragraph from the Jewi$h war pre$$ and its lead mouthpiece.

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